Wire die gauge



7, 1954 M. ONGERT 2,686,369

WIRE DIE GAUGE Filed Nov. 6, 1950 Invemfor:

Mama fl/va ez Patented Aug. 17, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to gauges for wire-drawing dies and more particularly to an apparatus for gauging the entrance and backrelief angles of a die nib.

Dies for wire drawings are usually purchased in the semi-finished state by the user. When the die is received by the user, the die nib, which is most generally made of tungsten carbide, is provided with a small hole cored therethrough and is embedded in a steel casing. In the case of very small dies, the nibs are usually solid blanks. The rough dies are then finished by the user to the sizes he requires. The conventional procedure used to process the semi-finished dies is as follows: the entrance angle is first rough-lapped or ripped to a predetermined size depending on the finished size wire-drawing die desired; the next step in the case of large dies only is to rough-lap or rip the bearing of the die (such a ripping of the bearing is not necessary in the case of small size wire-drawing die nibs); the

back-relief angle of the die nib is then roughlapped or ripped; the entrance angle is polished; the bearing is sized; and, as a final step, the bearing is polished. Ordinarily, no polishing of the back-relief angle is required unless the back-relief portion of the die nib is unusually rough.

Prior to my invention, it was usual procedure for the operator to use an eye loupe to look into the opening of the die as the above steps were being carried out to determine when each operation was completed. Even though accurately shaped and dimensioned lapping or ripping pins were used to finish the various parts of the die nib, the visual inspection relied upon to determine when enough lapping or ripping had been done resulted in frequent bad sizing and non-uniformity.

Although the visual inspedtion method, as described above, is most Widely used in die finishing, several types of gauges have been tried but none proved entirely satisfactory for enabling the operator to determine accurately when the entrance angle or back-relief angle of the die nib had been cut to both the proper dimension and depth.

It is, accordingly, an object of my invention to provide a gauge for wire-drawing dies which may be conveniently used during the processing of a wire-drawing die to check the dimension and depth of both the entrance angle and the backrelief angle of the die and, as a result, determine the length of the bearing thereof.

This and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view, partly in section;

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail view, partly in cross section, showing the position of a die for gauging the entrance angle thereof; and

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing the position of a die for gauging the backrelief angle thereof.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, reference numerals 2 and 4 indicate two vertical guide shafts based on a metal plate in spaced,

parallel relationship and having a rigid crosshead 6 fixedly mounted on the top portions thereof. A cross-head 8 is slidably mounted by means of bushings 9 on the shafts 2 and 4 for movement toward and away from the; fixed cross-head 5. A compression spring 59 is mounted around each of the guide shafts with one end bearing against the bottom of the bushing 9 and the other end bearing against an adjustable collar !2 which is mounted on each shaft. When released from compression, springs I0 act to urge the sliding cross-head 8 toward the fixed crosshead 6. A foot pedal i4, connected by means of an elongated rod member I6 and a bracket memher [8 to the under side of sliding cross-head 8 is provided for moving the sliding cross-head 8 in the direction away from the fixed cross-head 6 thereby compressing springs I6. Stop members 2%, which have one end adjustably mounted in fixed cross-head 6 and the other end 30 extending downward toward the sliding cross-head 8, are provided for limiting the movement of the sliding cross-head 3 in the direction toward the fixed cross-head 6. v

A cone 22 is removably mounted in rigid position on the sliding cross-head 8 to one side of the center thereof. Cone 22 is ground to an angle of approximately 30 and truncated at a suitable distance from the top. A second cone 24, which is ground to the desired entrance angle at which the die is to be finished and then truncated, is mounted in the fixed cross-head 6. The cone 24 is dimensioned in shape to fit snugly in the frustoconical recess that makes up the entrance angle of the die to be gauged. Cones 22 and 24 are mounted in alignment in a common vertical plane. A cone 26, which has an end portion dimensioned the same as cone 24, is mounted in the sliding cross-head 8 on the side of its centerline opposite cone 22. A cone 28 is mounted in fixed crosshead 6 in alignment with cone 26. Gone 28 is dimensioned and shaped to fit snugly into the finished back-relief angle of the finished die.

In operation, the stop members 20 are adjusted so that the gap between cones 22 and 24 is equivalent to the length of bearing Z plus the desired length of the back-relief angle X of the die being processed. Foot pedal I4 is depressed to move the cross-head 8 away from the fixed cross-head 6 and compress springs 10, and a die W, having a nib N to be gauged, is placed on the cone 22 with the nib N resting upon the truncated surface of cone 22 with the relief angle X down. The foot pedal I4 is then released to remove the tension from springs l9 causing the sliding cross-head 8 to move toward the fixed cross-head 6. The movement of the sliding cross-head 8 raises the die up against the cone 24. When the entrance angle Y of die W has been ripped to the proper dimension and depth, the end 30 of the stop member 28 will contact the upper surface of the cross-head 8 so that no light can be discerned therebetween. This will indicate to the operator that the entrance angle has been ripped to the proper size and depth and the distance between cones 22 and 24 will be equal to the length of the bearing Z plus the length of the back-relief angle X. If the operator should find, upon gauging the die on the apparatus, that the end 30 of stop member 20 has contacted the cross-head 8 and that the die nib is loose so that it can be moved slightly up and down between the cones 22 and 24, then he will know that he has ripped the entrance angle too deep and that he will not have sufficient bearing length in the die nib for the size hole that was originally intended. In this event, the die must be set aside for some smaller gauge wire. Each of the cones 22, 24, 26 and 28 is adjustable and removable, as shown in Figure 1, so that cones of the desired size can be easily inserted and used.

After the entrance angle Y of the die nib has been ripped or lapped, the back-relief angle X is ripped. To gauge the die after the back-relief angle X has been ripped, the die W is inverted and the entrance angle Y of. the die nib is placed on the cone 26, as shown in Figure 3. The cone members 28 are adjusted vertically so that the gap between cones 26 and 28 will be equal to the bearing length desired in the finished die ,when the ends 30 of the stop members contact the surface of cross-head 8. In the gauging operation, the cross-head 8 and the cone 26, with the die W secured thereon, is raised until the cone 28 is fitted into the back-relief angle X. If the back-relief angle X has been ripped to the proper size and depth, the end portion 30 of the stop members 20 will contact the cross-head 8 so that no light can be noted therebetween. In this position, the distance between the cones 26 and 28 is equal to the bearing length Z of the die W. The processing of the wire-drawing die W then proceeds as explained hereinbefore.

It will be noted that although I have shown two pairs of cones in the apparatus of my invention, it will be understood that one or more pairs of cones may be used if desired. In this case, the cone mounted on the sliding head of the apparatus will constitute a platform upon which the die being gauged would rest, either with the back-relief angle down or the entrance angle down depending on the angle being gauged. The cone in the fixed head of the apparatus would be shaped to fit the angle being gauged, a different cone being inserted for each die size and angle to be gauged. The cone on the sliding head of the apparatus may remain the same for all sizes and angles so long as it is able to abut and support the die nib.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A gauge for wire-drawing dies or the like comprising a pair of vertical shafts spaced in parallel relation, a cross-head slidingly mounted on and extending between said shafts, a rigid cross-head fixedly mounted across the top of said shafts, means for moving said sliding cross-head relative to said fixed cross-head, said last named means including an adjustable abutment on each of said shafts adapted to be fixed in position spaced below said sliding cross-head, resilient means mounted on each of said shafts between and bearing against the bottom of said sliding cross-head and said abutment, and means attached to said sliding cross-head for moving the same away from said fixed cross-head, adjustable stop means for limiting the movement of said sliding cross-head in the direction of said fixed cross-head, and a pair of gauging members at least one of which has the form of a truncated cone adjustably mounted on said cross-heads in opposition in a common vertical plane, said members being adapted to cooperate to gauge a die placed therebetween, the other one of said members having an end portion shaped and dimensioned to fit snugly into the angle on one side of the bearing in the die.

2. A gauge for wire-drawing dies as defined in claim 1 characterized by said stop means including an elongated rod having one end adjustably mounted in the fixed cross-head and the other end extending downwardly toward the sliding cross-head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 188,803 Kuhlman Mar. 27, 1877 313,552 Sweet Mar. 10, 1885 801,412 Spinney Oct. 10, 1905 1,325,943 Howard Dec. 23, 1919 1,647,552 Tangving Nov. 1, 1927 1,656,302 Swaney Jan. 17, 1928 1,808,955 Hilgenberg June 9, 1931 1,835,807 Parker Dec. 8, 1931 2,151,509 Goddu Mar. 21, 1939 2,202,683 Baesgen May 28, 1940 2,340,843 Bailey Feb. 1, 1944 2,361,631 JaKubia-k Oct. 31, 1944 2,385,137 Jones Sept. 18, 1945 2,407,648 Boehm Jr Sept. 1'7, 1946 2,437,679 Burgess Mar. 16, 1948 2,468,875 Henrikson May 3, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 107,855 Great Britain July 19, 1917 318,494 Great Britain Nov. 27, 1930 

